Hentoff covers the big-band and bebop eras with style and grace,
providing insights into the lives and work of such greats as Duke
Ellington, Billie Holliday, Louis Armstrong, and Charlie Parker.
Anyone with even a passing interest in jazz music will appreciate
this collection of essays (most previously published in the Wall
Street Journal) on its luminaries. Aficionados, especially, will
value the discographic information included. A "less is more"
thread runs throughout the book: Dizzy Gillespie, for instance,
says, "It's taken me most of my life to figure out which notes not
to play." Hentoff (Free Speech for Me But Not for Thee, 1992, etc.)
takes his cue from these efficient, economical musicians. Most
essays run two to three pages, but Hentoff finds a key phrase, his
own or another's, to nail down an elusive personality. John
Coltrane comments, after a set with Thelonious Monk, "I lost my
place...and it was like falling down an open elevator shaft." And
the author himself writes that alto and soprano saxophonist Johnny
Hodges "looked on the bandstand as if he were figuring out his tax
returns." Most readers will be surprised to learn that there was a
swinging big band composed entirely of women, the Sweethearts of
Rhythm, active from 1937 to 1948. And that Bing Crosby -
surprisingly hailed by Hentoff as a great jazz singer - opposed the
war in Vietnam. Politics figures in other ways as well: There are a
few accounts of playing the south during the Jim Crow era.
Throughout, Hentoff treats his subjects with great respect. But his
outright disdain for "free jazz" and most of its young, living
practitioners limits the scope of these essays. The country music
section is too brief to do that genre justice. Hentoff combines a
fan's passion, a scholar's mind, and a poet's sensibility to
illuminate one of the most elusive and distinctly American
phenomena-jazz musicians and their music. (Kirkus Reviews)
Here is Nat Hentoff's deeply felt exploration of jazz, blues,
country, and gospel--and the musicians who bring the music to life.
Hentoff has not only loved music all his life, he has lived it by
being friends with many of the musicians he writes about in this
collection. Hentoff poignantly describes the early days of Roy
Eldridge and the last years of Billie Holiday and Bird. He tells
amazing stories of the Count, Duke, and Dizzy. "Full of insightful
behind-the-scenes encounters" ("San Francisco Chronicle"), "Listen
to the Stories" covers new recordings and old legends, remarkable
lives and unforgettable music.
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